Sticks & Stalks

The postman rang at the door on Saturday morning and woke us up.
Not a bad thing after all. On this way, we started the day earlier than we usually do on week-end. And we enjoyed more of the glorious sunny day.

Coming back from the farmers market, I was all happy with my finds: Big bunches of mizuna and red mustard.

As the weather was so Springy, Paprika and I quickly agreed to lunch on the fresh mix of greens and cheese sticks. But not any kind of cheese. Du Comté ! If you don’t know it yet, you must taste it and you’ll know what I mean.

The warm cheese coated in breadcrumbs is a pure melting goodness, balanced with the peppery taste of mizuna and red mustard leaves.

My kind of lunch. Simple, fresh and tasty.

On the same easy way, I made a fruit salad for dessert. I got nice stalks of rhubarb as well at the market and I was curious to prepare it raw for a change.

The vegetable thinly sliced, is soaked in sugar for an hour and then mixed with orange segments, mint and coconut chips. A nice combination: tangy, sweet and refreshing.

Paprika skipped that one. He’s not a big fan of rhubarb and the raw version did not convince him either.

In four separate shallow plates place milk, cornstarch, egg mixture and breadcrumbs and polenta mix.
Deep one by one cheese slab or stick -if you prefer to make it that way- in the milk. Strain well and coat all over in the cornstarch. Remove the excess of cornstarch and deep in the egg mixture. Strain well and then coat with breadcrumb/polenta mix. Press firmly on six sides of the slab to ensure an even coating. Repeat a second time, the coating of egg and breadcrumb/polenta.
In a skillet heat the oil. To test oil temperature, drop breadcrumbs in. They should fry and brown quickly. Prepare a plate lined with absorbent paper. Fry slabs/sticks by batch -if necessary- to ensure they do not stick in the skillet. Cook for about 10-15 seconds on each side or until lightly golden. Drain well and place on absorbant paper.
Serve hot.

The Comté is tempting; we rarely have it but for a treat only as it can be difficult to find and quite pricey. Red mustard is completely new to me, though we do love regular green mustard very much, so the hunt is on for seeds to grow in our garden next year. Overall a marvelous, fresh, sunny near-spring day it would seem!

Hi Vanille,
Looks like the Comte sticks have really stuck a cord !
If any of your bloggers want to try some Comte I’d be only to happy to discount the price to $50/kilo (normally $75/kilo). All they need do is mention your blog !
Cheers,
Anthony Gamboni
Gamboni’s Deli
Karori

Looks heavenly. Have only had Comte once before, would love to try the deep-fried stick version. Interesting to see you double dip them, must ensure a lovely crust. And I adore rhubarb, I actually don’t mind them raw either, happy to chomp on a piece or two as I prepare them for the pan, so the salad sounds delightful :)

At first glance, I thought the photo was of the common fish stick. But Comté sticks! How delightful (and delicious). I love the photo where the cheese is oozing. It’s gorgeous. I’m not really familiar with rhubarb but never imagined you could eat it raw. I guess I’ve always been told the leaves were toxic so even the safe to eat stalks frightened me just a little.